A day following their most humiliating loss of the season, LeBron James and Kyrie Irving called for calm within the Cleveland Cavaliers’ fanbase and the media that covers the team.
Both All-Stars say the disheartening, 34-point spanking they suffered at the hands of the Golden State Warriors on national television isn’t the end of the world.
As for Kevin Love, the so-called focus of the Cavs’ offense: he has no answers for his ongoing struggles on both ends of the floor.
Per the Akron Beacon Journal:
While they gathered Tuesday for film work and treatment, players and coaches were forced to start looking ahead to the Brooklyn Nets on Wednesday. But it will be hard to shake how the Big Three has now faded twice within five days, and against the two best teams in the West. […] Folks within the organization left San Antonio last week shaking their heads at how poorly the Cavs’ stars played against the Spurs. They were even worse against the Warriors when (Stephen) Curry outscored the three by himself.
“Mentally, we’ve got to be sharp. We’ve got to be more sharp,” James said. He mentioned teams like the Bulls, Spurs and Warriors who have players that have won championships and who are “sharp mentally at all times.” He clearly isn’t putting the Cavs in that same category. “We’re not there yet,” he said. “We’ve got some inexperienced guys that haven’t played enough meaningful basketball games where they can fall back on. When it gets a little tough sometimes, it’s not like they can kind of fall back on previous experiences to try and help them get through it.” […] “We’re not defeated, it’s not the worst thing,” Irving said. “Of course, everyone else is going to make it seem like it’s the worst thing possible that we got beat on our home floor. But it’s something to learn from and go forward. We’ll be just fine.”
(Love) is averaging 12.4 points and shooting 37 percent since Irving returned to the lineup. He was averaging 17.6 points and shooting 43 percent without Irving. […] The questions about Love’s fit on this team are returning, particularly with how badly he struggles defensively, and Love is short on answers. Asked about his diminishing role, Love offered only, “I don’t know how to answer that.” Nor did he want to discuss the overall issues on offense. “I’m not going to get into that,” he said.
